Thursday, January 31, 2008

Voting

On November 4, American voters — nowhere near all of those eligble — will go to the polls and cast their ballots for the President of their choice. Many voters believe that they are educated voters who understand the issues and that they reach a measured decision. As is often the case, voters want change. The following video clip (about two minutes in length) shows various Presidential aspirants repeating the message of change, an oft-cited reason for casting one's ballot:

According to this "The Science of Presidential Complexity," an article from the January 28, 2008 edition of the Washington Post, however, most votes are cast without much consideration as to agreement with a potential leader's views and, instead, are based on voting for simplistic solutions, even though those proposed solutions are much the same as campaign promises unkept over and over again (emphases mine):

The question is not whether we agree with these views: Politicians stake out such positions precisely because they strike a chord with many voters. The question is why we like our bromides so simple -- especially when the same promises have been offered to us time and again in previous elections.

[...]

"Low complexity wins elections," said psychologist Lucian Gideon Conway III of the University of Montana at Missoula, who published his analysis of the presidential speeches in the journal Political Psychology. "People like simple answers, and someone saying, 'I don't have all the answers and here are five possibilities' is a hard sell compared to someone who says, 'I have a plan and it is going to work and my opponent is completely wrong.' "

The result is a paradox. Politicians offer simplistic solutions in order to win elections. But to govern, they must quickly ratchet up their complexity because they confront costs, consequences and compromises. But when up for reelection, it's time to dumb things down again.

[...]

So the next time you hear presidential candidates say simplistic things that people want to hear, remember that they are merely responding rationally to the incentives that voters give them. The disturbing question is not why politicians pander, but why pandering works -- and for that we need to look in the mirror.

According to the article, past leaders have campaigned on simplicity, but once in office, have gone on to offer solutions which were more complex:

Those who changed history -- a group that included leaders from George Washington to Fidel Castro -- invariably had simple ideas as they went about winning power but quickly increased the complexity of their thinking after they obtained power. Revolutionaries who offered complex ideas to begin with or those whose complexity did not quickly increase after wining power usually were failures.

Over and over again, voters, those who don't become cynics and disenfranchise themselves, desire that the promises made to win elections and how elected leaders govern be consistent and related — an assumed connection on the part of voters for as long as I can remember. But maybe hoping for that consistency is as elusive as chasing a rainbow. Perhaps once in power, leaders suffer a reality check and are forced to govern in a manner quite different from their original promises and ideas. Then again, that explanation as to why leaders once in office so often disappoint the citizeny, including those who once staunchly supported a given candidate during a campaign, may be a simplistic rationale, too.

In my view, citizens often do not get the government they voted for. Nevertheless, in the next election, the desire for change sends the diehard voters, hopeful once again or detemined to vote against a particular candidate, to the polls. This cycle, dating back to the earliest days of self-government is self-perpetuating. So far, however, mankind has not come up with a better idea than the imperfect system of electing leaders who almost inevitably disappoint the governed.

We are often taken aback by the level of fanaticism of Muslims. Millions of them riot, burn churches, and kill completely innocent people because a newspaper has published a few cartoons of Muhammad or because the Pope has quoted a medieval emperor saying that violence is not compatible with the nature of God.

People generally are biased towards a belief system that has this many followers. They believe that the sheer size of Islam qualifies it as a religion. But is Islam really a religion?

Some say all religions start as a cult until, with the passage of time, they gradually gain acceptance and the status of religion. However, there are certain characteristics that distinguish cults from religions. Dr. Janja Lalich and Dr. Michael D. Langone have created a list that describes cults fairly well.[1] The more a group or a doctrine has these characteristics the more it follows that it should be defined and labeled as a cult. The following is that list, which I have compared Islam to point by point....

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Notice To Readers

I've had a posting frenzy today because I know that I have a heavy schedule this week. You'll find several new postings below. I may not be posting for a few days now, although I will be checking comments and visiting friends' blogs.

Auschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans. A complex of camps, Auschwitz included a concentration, extermination, and forced-labor camp. It was located 37 miles west of Krakow (Cracow), near the prewar German-Polish border.

In mid-January 1945, as Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp complex, the SS began evacuating Auschwitz and its satellite camps. Nearly 60,000 prisoners were forced to march west from the Auschwitz camp system. Thousands had been killed in the camps in the days before these death marches began. Tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to march to the city of Wodzislaw in the western part of Upper Silesia. SS guards shot anyone who fell behind or could not continue. Prisoners also suffered from the cold weather, starvation, and exposure on these marches. More than 15,000 died during the death marches from Auschwitz. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill and dying. It is estimated that at minimum 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945; of these, at least 1.1 million were murdered.

Much more at the above link.

So, here we are in 2008, repeating the mistakes of the 1930s, via appeasement of Islamofascists:

The 1930s were "a time when a certain cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies." Men and women who should have known better refused to see what was writ large and plain before their eyes...

Some days, I feel total despair that the world hasn't learned the lesson of the danger of feeding the crocodile.

...Imagine if you had stood on that January morning , seeing Auschwitz, and imagine being told that what you were looking at was ''radical Nazism'', and was not representative of ''true Nazism." What would you have thought?

The truth I wish to state is this: You cannot separate a founder from his movement or a phophet from his prophecy. They are one and the same. Auschwitz was the logical terminus for centuries of latent European anti-Semitism as was 9/11 the logical terminus of fourteen centuries of Islam. Both systems are and were murderous political ideologies that sought to dominate the world through aggressive warfare, to eliminate world Jewry and destroy any and all who would oppose them.

Does this mean that those Germans, who were after all Christians, are lock-step murderers? Putting aside the brave few who spoke out, yes it does. Every German who followed Hitler and the Nazis in all they did, made the Holocaust possible. You couldn't listen today to someone who claims to be a Nazi and hear them say '' Nazism is peaceful'' as you watch violence carried out in the name of Nazism.

Mohammed was Islam's sole founder, it prophet, its voice. He commanded his followers to wage jihad--holy war--to bring all under its control and to kill the Jews wherever they found them. To follow Mohammed is to follow Islam. It isn't enough for ''moderate Muslims'' to denounce the slaughter committed in its name, it is Islam, like Nazism, that is the evil. As there was nothing redeeming in Hitler and Nazism, so is there nothing redeemable in Islam or Mohammed. The words and deeds of these two men--Adolph Hitler and Mohammed--have murderously and profoundly impacted humanity in such horrendous ways and should serve as a warning to the world of the danger of those who consider themselves ''prophets'' and to those who would become its adherents.

Nazism is gone and Islam is still with us, still threatening and still killing. As long as those who continue to follow Mohammed's teachings commit violence in its name while their fellow Muslims say little or nothing to condemn it, Auschwitz's legacy will always be us and so will 9/11!

Yankee Doodle goes on to summarize what has happened to Lionheart and makes the following commentary (emphases mine):

Blogs (and bloggers) are going to start vanishing. This is only the very beginning of a big wave of oppression that is about to wash over the blogosphere.

[...]

Either we hang together, and do what we can, or rest assured we will hang separately.

1) Considering the legal assault on Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld in regards to her work exposing the financing of terrorism (see the posts in the widget on my sidebar);2) considering the Bush Administration's efforts to gag Sibel Edmonds and other whistleblowers who have sought to expose criminal conduct which coincidentally furthers the goals of Islamic terrorists;3) considering the persecution of bloggers, journalists and others in such "enlightened" countries as Israel, Finland, Canada, and so on;

bloggers now need to consider themselves targets of the international jihad and likely victims of government repression.

It is important to keep in mind that we in the English-speaking world have centuries of history and tradition -- replete with legal precedents -- on our side in the battle to stay free. Consequently, our fight is a peaceful one; we shall prevail by refusing to be silenced.

In addition to being illegal and wrong, any other approach to this situation would merely play into the hands of those who seek to enslave us and destroy our society.

According to this posting, to which Yankee Doodle linked (emphases mine),

[Lionheart] is currently in the US but his flight back is in about four days....and counting! He has very little money as his life has been turned upside down and I am very sad to say very few people have put their hands in their pockets to help when he needed their help the most. People who know his plight and sympathise with his views have, on the whole, let him down catastrophically. If something like a book offer, speaking position or similar is not offered to him in the next four days, he will get on that flight and return to the UK and be arrested on arrival. He will most likely be bailed after being charged and returned to his neighbourhood where he will have to live very secretively or be murdered. This is a very real possibility.

He helped the police imprison one of the drug dealers in his area and muslims in his area may well desire retribution, but more than just an eye for an eye. Even if he is released without charge, he will be in grave danger. If he goes to prison, his companions will be pimps, drug dealers and terrorists, many of whom will be muslim who will know who he is and the man he helped imprison. He has told me he would refuse to be put into protective areas as he would not want to be in the company of sex offenders. He has pictured what could and most likely would happen to him and has accepted that fate as a consequence of speaking the truth but I have not and neither should you!...

Ever since Lionheart's story broke a few weeks ago here in the blogosphere, many of us have done what we could to assist him. But, as I predicted from the beginning, the mainstream media, even those of the conservative type, have not felt Lionheart's story worthy of coverage. They'd much rather harp on the current bimbo-of-the-week or some other inane story.

A few weeks ago, when Lionheart notified me of his situation, so many bloggers went after this story. We pulled out all the stops! Some of us contacted media, others political leaders. Still, we have not been able to get Lionheart's story out to the masses here in America. The mainstream media will not let us break through — and neither will the convservative pundits, even those who are blogosphere-friendly.

This shut-out of Lionheart's story puts me in mind of what happened with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who had to leave the United States because she couldn't get adequate security. We didn't even know of her situation until she had left for Europe! I've already said publicly that had I known of Ayaan's situation, I'd have taken her into my own home. I mean that!

The Christian community in the D.C. area failed Ayaan. Because she is an atheist? Perhaps. But to the credit of the Christian community, they didn't even know about Ayaan.

Is the same true for Lionheart? I don't think so. Surely, many Christians know of Lionheart's situation. What is the Christian community doing for Lionheart, who testifies that he is a believer?

Is there no lawyer out there to help him?

So, is it best for Lionheart to return to the UK and let the wheels of justice turn? Or will the wheels of injustice grind him down so that he disappears? In a few short days, we should have some kind of answer to those questions.

With apologies, Yankee Doodle included the following revised version of different lyrics for "Secret Agent Man" in his posting:

There's a man who leads a life of dangerTo everyone he meets he stays a strangerWith every post he makesAnother chance he takesOdds are he won't live to blog tomorrow

Secret blogger man, secret blogger manThey've given you a login and taken away your name

Beware of friendly comments you may findA friendly word can hide an evil mindAh, be careful what you postOr you'll be givin' up the ghostOdds are you won't live to blog tomorrow

Secret blogger man, secret blogger manThey've given you a login and taken away your name

[Lead guitar]

Secret blogger man, secret blogger manThey've given you a login and taken away your name

Swingin' in cyberspace one dayAnd then ridin' in the medevac next dayOh no, you let the wrong word outWhile posting with a shoutThe odds are you won't live to blog tomorrow

Of course, the original version is by Johnny Rivers, way back in 1966:

Many have questioned the veracity or completeness of Lionheart's story as we know it from the web. Still, the following statement by the anti-Nazi pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) may apply to situations other than Lionheart's, perhaps to your own situation in a day not so distant:

In Germany they first came for the Communists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —and by that time no one was left to speak up.

1930's alert — in 2008, which may well turn out to be The Year of Silencing Voices. Certainly we have already seen the signs.

...[A]fter I [LGF] supported Lionheart’s right to free speech (but not his association with the BNP), Lionheart publicly called me a “traitor” who should be shot like a WWII Nazi collaborator, and wrote that there were many who would be glad to kill me.

You know, just a tiny detail like that. Not really worth a mention, I guess.

Certainly Lionheart is not without controversy. Many bloggers and commenters have already stated their concerns, and I won't repeat all of them here in the body of this post.

But I hereby state that I did not intentionally fail to mention Charles's concerns. I assumed that commenters here would bring up the other aspects of Lionheart's situation.

The point of my posting was otherwise, as I have stated in Comment #43 at LGF.

I could take this posting down.

Maybe I should.

But I'm not sure what removing this posting would accomplish.

Besides, readers can decide for themselves about Lionheart. My purpose as a blogger who has been following the story is to bring his story to the attention of readers here at AOW.

Stimulating The Economy?

This letter to the editor, in the January 26, 2008 edition of the Washington Post, sums up my views as to the economic-stimulus package, destined to pass Congress in some form:

The back-patting by Congress and the White House over the proposed economic stimulus package ["Negotiators Grappling With Stimulus Plan; White House, Hill Strive to Maintain Bipartisanship," news story, Jan. 24] should be put in check by calling these "tax rebates" what they really are: tax loans. Unlike the checks issued in 2001, those proposed would not be part of a planned permanent tax cut and would thus have to be repaid by taxpayers (that is, us) sometime in the future.

Encouraging us to spend these "rebates" quickly instead of saving the money to pay off this tax loan is shortsighted. That behavior would lead to a quick economic high and then a deep low. It would be like abolishing paycheck tax withholdings and telling folks to spend the money as it comes in and deal with the tax bill when it arrives.

Today's plan may work to boost lawmakers' images in the short term, but it is merely a sham to those of us who will still be paying taxes once those public servants leave office.

Mr. Ryan Fitzgerald, the author of the above letter, has it exactly right! Putting money, so-called "rebates," into the hands of the American people fails to address the multiple causes of the present economic crisis.

And it is a crisis. The subprime mortgage crisis, Americans' penchant to spend over 100% of what they earn (via easy credit and other overspending), and the outsourcing of American industry cannot be solved by a one-time Congressional measure. In fact, the economic-stimulus package is like putting a bandaid on an arterial rupture and provides only short-lived relief:

Friday, January 25, 2008

Imams In Our State Legislatures

(All emphases by Always On Watch)

For centuries, state legislatures all over the United States have opened with prayer, sometimes offered by a man of the cloth. In the past few decades, legislatures have invited in Christian priests and ministers, Buddhist priests, and, especially since 9/11, imams.

According to Radio Iowa, an imam in that state opened the House of Representatives 2008 legislative session with a four-minute prayer, which has led to some controversy:

The 2008 Iowa Legislature has convened and the opening prayer in the Iowa House of Representatives was delivered by a Muslim. Imam Muhammad Khan of the Islamic Center of Des Moines spoke first in Arabic.

"I seek refuge in God against the accursed Satan in the name of God, most gracious, most merciful," Khan said in English at the beginning of his prayer. Khan made no specific mention of the war in Iraq or foreign affairs, but he called God the "master of the day of judgment" and asked for "victory over those who disbelieve."

"Refuge in God against the accursed Satan"? What could that mean? The Pilot Tribune provides a different wording for that phrase:

"Protection from the great Satan"

Also according to the Pilot Tribune,

Pastor Steve Smith of the Evangelical Free Church in Albert City is among those concerned about the Muslim prayer. Rev. Smith admits that he doesn't know about all the levels of Muslim but knows that the Jihadists believe those in the U.S. are the great Satan.

Rev. Smith also wants to point out the mention of "victory over those who disbelieve." He feels "this is a request in the Iowa Legislature for God to grant the Muslims victory over every non-muslim. Not a request for salvation." Smith takes it as a gesture not of prayer but more as a political statement...

Here is another excerpt from the imam's prayer:

"...We ask that you guide our legislators and give them the wisdom and knowledge to tackle the difficult problems that face us today in order to eliminate the senseless crimes on humanity...."

Let's be fair here. Maybe "the great Satan" is an incorrect translation. And maybe that last excerpt has nothing to do with the ummah. However, according to Hot Air, there seems to be no controversy over this particular phrase:

Thursday, January 24, 2008

OWEEEE — Again and Again! (Updated & Bumped)

Plans last week at the doctor's office included another round of injections, this time of a different type called Prolotherapy.-------------Prolotherapy offers the only possible cure for sacroiliac dysfunction, with which I've been plagued for nearly three years.

My doctor cannot predict how much pain I might suffer as a result of the injections, which will need to be repeated at intervals of two to sixteen weeks. Barring a coma, I'll still be cohosting The Gathering Storm Radio Show on Friday, January 18. Otherwise, my presence in the blogosphere may be curtailed for a while if the doctor agrees that I should begin the injections tomorrow.

Update: I had the eight injections on January 16 and am feeling a bit worse than I expected. Posting will be light for at least a few more days than I had originally planned for. Nevertheless, I am managing to post as I am able to. Scroll down for the latest postings.

Note: If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

Friday, February 1: Our guest at the bottom of the hour is blogger Kevin of The Amboy Times. We'll begin that portion of the show by discussing Kevin's extensive posting "The List of Things That Offend Muslims."----------------------Kevin keeps the list up to date! He also invites commenters to add to the list. Introduction to "The List... ":

This list is a work in progress. I welcome suggestions. Anyone who has more items to add to the list, post them in the comments.

The intent of the list is to illustrate the futility of the multicultural approach to Islam. Sharia law demands submission not only from Muslims, but from non-Muslims as well. This makes respectful coexistence nearly impossible with Muslims in Infidel lands. The examples below serve as reminder that submitting to one complaint or another only emboldens Muslims to seek to further their ultimate goal of establishing sharia.

The West needs to come to grips with this fact and start standing up for our God-given rights of free speech, free expression and freedom of religion, lest we surrender those rights to a theocratic movement bent on removing our Constitutional freedoms that we hold dear. In this case, our tolerance will lead to intolerance.

Be Careful Not To Offend Muslims

How pathetic do you have to be to censor fairy tales because you fear they might be offensive to Muslims? Sure, Muslims might be offended. That's the fun of having Muslims around. You never know what might offend them.

A digital book based on the story of the Three Little Pigs has been rejected by judges presiding over the annual BETT awards of the government's educational technology tentacle, Becta, because the literary deployment of porkers "raises cultural issues".

The CD-Rom - produced by Newcastle-based Shoo-fly - is aimed at primary school kids, but the judges said they had "concerns about the Asian community and the use of pigs raises cultural issues", according to the BBC.

The book recently secured the "Best Primary Resource and Innovation in Education" prize at the Education Resource Awards, but Becta explained to the publishers that they "could not recommend this product to the Muslim community"..................................................

This just had to happen, well quite frankly who gives a damn about what the Muslim community thinks.

This is another utterly stupid act of dhimimitude and oversensitivity.When are they going to declare Animal Farm unclean or unfit after all the Pig was the leader (if I remember correctly).

Piglet, Teddy Bears and now the three little Pigs, what idiotic people are making these fatuous decisions....

Note from AOW: Below is an excerpt from the January 23, 2008 article in the BBC News:

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.

The digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

Becta, the government's educational technology agency, is a leading partner in the annual Bett Award for schools.

The judges also attacked Three Little Cowboy Builders for offending builders.

The book's creative director, Anne Curtis, said the idea that including pigs in a story could be interpreted as racism was "like a slap in the face".

'Cultural issues'

The CD-Rom digital version of the traditional story of the three little pigs, called Three Little Cowboy Builders, is aimed at primary school children.

But judges at this year's Bett Award said that they had "concerns about the Asian community and the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

The Three Little Cowboy Builders has already been a prize winner at the recent Education Resource Award - but its Newcastle-based publishers, Shoo-fly, were turned down by the Bett Award panel.

The feedback from the judges explaining why they had rejected the CD-Rom highlighted that they "could not recommend this product to the Muslim community".

They also warned that the story might "alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)".

The judges criticised the stereotyping in the story of the unfortunate pigs: "Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?"...

A historic statue of a wild boar is unlikely to return to Derby's Arboretum, because it couldoffend Muslims living nearby. The Florentine Boar stood in the Derby park from 1840 to 1942, when it was beheaded by flying masonry during an air raid. Derby City Council had hoped to replace the statue with an identical replica when plans for a massive overhaul of the park were first considered a decade ago. But following reservations raised by some people in Normanton about a new boar statue, the authority decided to consult with local community leaders.

At a meeting of the council's minority ethnic communities advisory committee it was recommended that the boar be replaced with something else because of the strength of feeling among nearby residents as pigs are perceived as offensive creatures by many Muslims. Derwent Ward councillor Suman Gupta said, "If the statue of the boar is put back at the Arboretum I have been told that it will not be there the next day, or at least it won't be in the same condition the next day at least. We should not have the boar because it is offensive to some of the groups in the immediate area."...

Comment to that article:

I was amazed to read that for ethnic reasons the historic statue of the Florentine Boar may not be returned to the Arboretum. If this decision is upheld, how long will it be before the sale of bacon is banned and white cows are allowed to wander down the motorways? I am an atheist, but I am tolerant to the religious beliefs of others where such beliefs do not impact on their place in this society or myself. I express my beliefs, but I do not impose them on others.

Last summer, Mr. AOW and I visited the Gigglin' Pig store in upstate New York. There, I bought a Gigglin' Pig baseball cap, black with a hot-pink pig's head. I don't see the cap on the store's web site. Perhaps the cap is available only at the retail center. Anyway, I plan to start sporting my cute little cap as soon as the weather here warms up. I want to see if my cap and I are deemed offensive.

CAMPUS WATCH, a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students....

Ms. Stillwell is the Northern California representative for Campus Watch and has written articles for the American Thinker, Family Security Matters, Frontpage Magazine, Accuracy In Media, Newsbusters, Israel National News, the Jewish News Weekly of N. CA, the Conservative Voice, and many others.

2. At the bottom of the hour, Elmer's Brother and Nanc will join us for a humorous look at current events and trends. Or they could adopt a serious tone. With EB and Nanc, one never knows how they are going to approach matters!

Note: If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

A Bit Of An Online Storm

Almost two years ago, I wrote an essay about how silly Washington-area residents become when even a flake of snow falls. As I said in that essay,

"We Washingtonians have a love-hate relationship with snow. All adults love the beauty of a local winder wonderland, and we teachers, as do students, love getting the day off “due to inclement weather.” The Washington area sometimes shuts down at the very threat of a flake! Other times, when only a few inches have come down, I’ve not had to report to work, only to be out and about later in the day, with absolutely no problem.

"Truly, however, Washingtonians simply can’t drive in the white stuff, particularly if a mere inch covers the road surface...."

Every winter, school officials in the Washington, D.C. area have to "make the call," that is, decide whether or not to open at all, open on time, or close early. As a former principal in a private school and now a teacher of classes of homeschoolers, I have long been in the position of "making the call." Sometimes my call has been correct, sometimes not.I "called it" correctly last Thursday, January 17, 2008. Then again, I had an advantage in making my decsion because classes for me that day did not begin until late morning. Public school systems, on the other hand, have to "make the call" much earlier, usually by 5:30 A.M.

Last Thursday, not a single flake fell until around 10:00 A.M. Therefore, Fairfax County Public Schools decided to open on time, possibly with the thought that an early closing might be necessary, although I don't know for certain. In my view, Fairfax County's decision to open was the correct one, even though the afternoon commute home was problematic.

Predictably, once the snow began to fall in earnest and the roads became slick within an hour, the recriminations began. This time, however, the situation took a rather intense turn. From this January 23, 2008 article in the Washington Post (emphases mine):

Snow days, kids and school officials have always been a delicate mix.

But a phone call to a Fairfax County public school administrator's home last week about a snow day -- or lack of one -- has taken on a life of its own. Through the ubiquity of Facebook and YouTube, the call has become a rallying cry for students' First Amendment rights, and it shows that the generation gap has become a technological chasm.

It started with Thursday's snowfall, estimated at about three inches near Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke. On his lunch break, Lake Braddock senior Devraj "Dave" S. Kori, 17, used a listed home phone number to call Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the county system, to ask why he had not closed the schools. Kori left his name and phone number and got a message later in the day from Tistadt's wife.

"How dare you call us at home! If you have a problem with going to school, you do not call somebody's house and complain about it," Candy Tistadt's minute-long message began. At one point, she uttered the phrase "snotty-nosed little brats," and near the end, she said, "Get over it, kid, and go to school!"

Not so long ago, that might have been the end of it -- a few choice words by an agitated administrator (or spouse). But with the frenetic pace of students' online networking, it's harder for grown-ups to have the last word. Kori's call and Tistadt's response sparked online debate among area students about whether the student's actions constituted harassment and whether the response was warranted....

I don't personally know Kori, but according to the Washington Post, he is a cream-of-the-crop student:

Kori, a member of the Lake Braddock debate team who said his grade-point average is 3.977, said his message was not intended to harass. He said that he tried unsuccessfully to contact Dean Tistadt at work and that he thought he had a basic right to petition a public official for more information about a decision that affected him and his classmates. He said he was exercising freedom of speech in posting a Facebook page. The differing interpretations of his actions probably stem from "a generation gap," he said.

"People in my generation view privacy differently. We are the cellphone generation. We are used to being reached at all times," he said.

Kori explained his perspective in an e-mail yesterday to Fairfax County schools spokesman Paul Regnier. Regnier said, also in an e-mail, that Kori's decision to place the phone call to the Tistadts' home was more likely the result of a "civility gap."

[...]

Kori said that he was called into the principal's office to discuss the matter but that he was not punished.

I rather imagine that, as a member of the debate team, Kori is one of those students who knows how to make a case for a particular position.

According to the article,

"It's really an issue of kids learning what is acceptable and not acceptable. Any call to a public servant's house is harassment," Regnier said in an interview.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Changing Signs

From across The Pond in the UK, comes this January 17, 2008 article [Hat-tip to Up Pompeii]:

Government renames Islamic terrorism as 'anti-Islamic activity' to woo Muslims

Ministers have adopted a new language for declarations on Islamic terrorism.

In future, fanatics will be referred to as pursuing "anti-Islamic activity"....

And right here in the United States, America's Truth Forum has been forced to bow to political correctness. Via this article at Jihad Watch, here is the original version of a billboard sign advertising the upcoming symposium on February 1-2:

And the "approved" version:

Robert Spencer's commentary on the above (emphasis mine):

Why the changes? The sales manager of a Dallas-area billboard company explained: “My boss wouldn’t go along with this type of advertising since we have an international clientele -- some of whom might be on the other side."

The other side? On the side of the jihadists?

Imagine an American billboard company in 1942 toning down an anti-Nazi billboard because, well, some of their clients are Nazis!

Decrying the coming of Eurabia, we Americans sit here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. In the process of our criticism of the dhimmitude "over there," at the same time, we say to ourselves, "We're smarter than that. We'll never be dhimmis to the same extent that Europeans are."

Really?

We talk bravely and, many times, openly. Still, the little steps of dhimmitude are marching right over us. Sometimes the march is of the type which changed the America's Truth Forum sign: that of economic jihad, stirred by the stick of political correctness and, maybe, by fear.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Blogger Silenced

Right here in America, blogger Foehammer of Foehammer's Anvil, one of the most outspoken critics of Islam, is having more problems keeping his site on the web. From this cached copy of the last post he made. The title is "Experiencing Difficulties Beyond My Control" (emphases mine):

As many of you are aware of by now, I am experiencing problems with the hosting at the Anvil. This has been continuing off and on for months and in recent weeks it has built up a full head of steam.

This may be the last blog entry I make here at the Anvil for many days, so just be prepared. I am being badgered by my hosts with nebulous emails, unexpected service denials, etc., all during a time in my life when I need them the least and am not able to make much sense of what they claim to be the “problem” with the Anvil. In other words, I’m out of patience and short on solutions.

All this being said, I am now convinced that my next logical step will be to find a new host for the Anvil. I do not know when I will make this move, but I will make it in order to keep the Anvil online. I will not give in to extortionists, terrorists, Islamists or even poorly managed Internet hosting companies.

What I really will need to find is a hosting company that has a staff that can take the hat of tech support away from me. I must be getting old, because I no longer have the time, energy or will to be not only a writer but also a web designer, graphic artist, editor, marketer AND technical guru. I’ve lost my way in the wilds of the blogosphere and I need to simplify things for myself if I’m ever going to find the fire to start typing op-ed pieces again.

It’s a shame that it has come to this, but I certainly can’t say that I am surprised. The cause of my “problems” could range from an inside mole to an outside hacker to a simply well-hidden script that is misbehaving. I simply do not know and that is a rare thing for me to admit.

Wish me luck. I already know I have your support and for that I am sincerely grateful.

It has been my privilege to share my views with so many of you for this long and to be received so kindly by the majority. I will do my best to keep keeping on but there may very well be a big bump in the road ahead. Hold on tight.

Foehammer, out.

One of the sites which I "secretly" have was hacked last year. I never could get back in to post, and neither could my partner. That particular site was particularly critical of Islam, much more critical than here at Always On Watch. And the problems I had with that other site of mine occurred almost a year after Blogger made its conversion, so that conversion was not the problem.

I see 2008, less than three weeks old, as The Year of Silencing Voices. Via litigation jihad, we have already seen that push in the direction of Mark Steyn, Michael Savage, and Joe Kaufman. Blogger Lionheart in the UK is also under a cloud of suspicion, having been served in absentia with a notice of pending arrest. I'm sure that readers here know of other similar cases, the details of which escape me at the moment, at this early hour of the day.

This is cyber war, fellow infidels! Gird your loins. We're in for a bumpy ride.

Audios: Who Is Allah? & Islamophobia

The Muslim population HYPOCRITICALLY accuses the West of 'Islamophobia'.

Isn't it natural that we should be terrified of Muhammadan Islam?

The entire series of audios is HERE. Also see In The Name Of Allah, which offers articles on topics related to the history of Islam, including this excellent introduction to Islam. Excerpt from near the end of "Introduction to Islam":

Politicians and theologians keep repeating the mantra that Islam is a religion of 'peace', when the history of Muhammadan Islam is written with the blood of conquests and subjugation of tens of millions of nations in at least twenty-five countries spanning three continents - Asia, Africa and Europe - stretching from India and China in the east to the Atlantic in the west. The subject peoples of these lands - who had their own religions and beliefs - did not voluntarily become 'Muslims' through dialogue and spiritual enlightenment.

[Hat-tip to Mark Alexander, where I found the second of the above audios]

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Blowing Smoke?

Thanks to Nanc, who emailed me the following, dated January 15, 2008, from The National Terror Alert Response Center:

U.S. officials monitoring terrorist web sites have discovered a call for using forest fires as weapons against “crusader” nations, in what may explain some recent wildfires in places like southern California and Greece.

A terrorist website was discovered recently that carried a posting that called for “Forest Jihad.” The posting was listed on the Internet on Nov. 26 and reported in U.S. intelligence channels last week.

The statement, in Arabic, said that “summer has begun so do not forget the Forest Jihad.”

Summer has begun? Not here in Northern Virginia. It snowed like crazy most of today.

Continuing now with the seasonally-challenged braggart:

The writer called on all Muslims in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia to “start forest fires.”

The posting quoted imprisoned Al Qaida terrorist Abu Musab Al-Suri, as saying “Jihad is an art just like poetry, music, and the fine arts. There are people that draw and there are others that are jihadists. They both act upon inspiration.”

Waging jihad is art? Strange that I've never thought of as murder as art. Obviously, I don't think like an Islamic terrorist.

Contining now with the article,

Al-Suri is a senior Al Qaida leader captured in Pakistan in 2005 who is believed to be in U.S. custody.

“The idea of forest fires is attributed to him, may God set him free, as is in this short clip,” the writer stated.

The posting said that setting forest fires were legal under extremist Islamic law as part of a “eye for an eye” and that can produce “amazing results.”

Wildfires in California burned more than 500,000 acres beginning in October and authorities said arson was to blame for some of the fires. In August, wildfires broke out in Greece that authorities say were deliberately set.

The writer stated that it was permissible to burn trees in carrying out jihad.

“Scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels’ forests when they do the same to our lands,” the writer said.

The writer stated that “targeted forests” are in the nations that “are at war with Muslims,” including the United States, Europe, Russia, and Australia.

Other nations, including Brazil are “off limits” because Brazil has not joined the “armies of the crusade.”

On damage caused by wildfires, the report said that the fires typically take months to put out which means that “this terror will haunt them for an extended period of time.”

The fires also will cause economic damage because it will limit exports of timber used to make furniture and also will cause losses to pharmaceutical companies that use trees for ingredients for drugs, the posting said.

Smoke caused by the fires will create pollution and military forces could be tied up fighting fires. The report noted that U.S. military forces in Iraq or Afghanistan “could even be recalled” as occurred following hurricane Katrina, which did not occur.

“Imagine if, after all the losses caused by such an event, a jihadist organization were to claim responsibility for (starting) the forest fires,” the writer said. “You can hardly begin to imagine the level of the fear that would take hold of people in the United States, in Europe, in Russia, and in Australia.”

The report said that Abu Musab Al-Suri, urges terrorists to use sulphuric acid to start a forest fire, as well as gasoline.

The article was signed by Abu Thar Al-Kuwaiti, on behalf of a group called the Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network.

This week we have four guests scheduled: Ilana Freedman, Brigitte Gabriel, Blogger Lionheart, and Lee Kaplan.-------------------1. Ilana Freedman of The Gerard Group, which states at the site's header, If you want to ignore the terrorist threat, that's your business. If you want to protect against it, that's ours. See this list for articles by Ms. Freedman.

3. Blogger Lionheart from the UK. He will be arrested if he returns to the UK for violating Britain's hate crime law. This is a travesty of freedom and a show not to miss because what's happening to Lionheart can and may happen to you.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Bible Is "Unclean"

A MUSLIM store worker refused to serve a customer buying a children’s book on Christianity because she said it was “unclean”.

Shopper Sally Friday felt publicly humiliated at a branch of Marks & Spencer when she tried to pay for First Bible Stories as a gift for her young grandson.When she put the book on the check-out counter, the young assistant refused to touch it, declared it was unclean and summoned another member of staff to serve instead....

There's been an outcry, of course, and from several sides:

Last night politicians and religious leaders supported her in condemning the high street giant and reigniting the debate over religious beliefs in the workplace.

Conservative MP Philip Davies said the refusal to serve Mrs Friday, 69, was “unacceptable” and “damaging” to community relations.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, described the assistant’s comments as “offensive” and called for Marks & Spencer to carry out a thorough investigation.

The sensitivities of Muslim employees are not limited to Marks & Spencer:

Mrs Friday’s treatment is just the latest example of Muslim staff refusing to serve customers on religious grounds.

In October 2006, Lloyds chemist was forced to apologise to mother Jo-Ann Thomas after a Muslim pharmacist refused her a morning-after contraceptive pill on religious grounds in Rotherham.

A smoker was refused cigarettes at a Cambridge store in January last year because the Muslim shop assistant said it was against her religion to sell tobacco.

Islamic checkout staff at Sainsbury’s who refuse to sell alcohol are allowed to opt out of handling bottles and cans of drink by calling other staff to take their place.

Other staff have refused to work stacking shelves with wine, beer and spirits and have been found alternative roles in the company.

Odd that these incidents involving Muslims' sensitivities keep cropping up in Western countries: a UK dentist who refused to treat a female patient if she didn't wear a hijab, UK doctors demanding alcohol-free germicides, Minneapolis cab drivers who refuse to transport liquor in their taxis, a clerk who refused to check out bacon at her cash register in an American grocery store. A more detailed list is HERE, at The Amboy Times. And the list keeps growing.

Could it be that Muslim sensitivities are becoming more and more obvious because firm stands against such self-righteous behavior exhibited by some Muslim employees? Or is there another reason? As ever, I'm interested in your comments.

Monday, January 14, 2008

In New York City

So there I am, with two of my little infidels in tow, dashing across town to hit Carnegie Hall. It seems Red has to have a classical concert in the bag for a report due tomorrow. I love these mandates, the kids as an impetus for some culchuh for a change. So imagine my surprise to stumble upon a sea of black down Park Avenue against a backdrop of loud Muslim prayers blaring over loudspeakers, no less. We were running late and I didn't have a picture card in my camera but Red said, "ma, there's a Staples down the block, you've got to get this". It was surreal.

The cop tells me, Moe's grandson along with 72 other Muslims beat back an army of 70,000. Yeah 72 guys beat an army of 70,000 and they are mourning the death of Husayn (the grandson). The mock coffins represent Husayn and his followers who "were denied proper burial." When I saw them beating themselves up, I asked the cop, "is this Ashura"? He said, yeah I think that's in the pamphlet. Indeed it was. He told me there was a large number from Pakistan (but no sign of mourning for Bhutto, or any sign of her for that matter), Iran Iraq, Lebanon....

[...]

The most disturbing image was all those black clad women (from head to toe) en masse down Park Avenue. My 13 year old said, "ma that's scary". Indeed. Mind you, it was scary, as in an altered reality.

On every corner a young girl in full dress would stop you to explain the meaning and the beauty of this festival of mourning (did I just say that) and give you Islamic propaganda. The taqiya was in full blast mode....

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Lionheart's Case

Wolf Howling has provided an excellent summary of Lionheart's case.Excerpt:

...Lionheart is a modern pamphleteer. He uses his blog to shine a light on the evils of radical Islam, primarily within the borders of the UK. He sees the growth of radical Islam in his country as insidious and a threat to the very existence of British culture, if not Britain itself.

In a little over a week, some 10,000 bloggers have already written about Lionheart's situation. On yesterday's The Gathering Storm Radio Show, WC and I interviewed Eric Martin and Lee Kaplan, both of whom discussed Lionheart's situation. You can listen to that show HERE. Both Mr. Martin and Mr. Kaplan provided insights which you might not have heard or read of anywhere else.

"Blogger Of The World"

Thanks to my web sister Nanc, who has named me as a Blogger of the World.

Below, in no particular order, are my choices for Bloggers of the World (in addition to Nanc, of course). I've tried to choose a few sites with which my regular readers might not be familiar and hope that regular readers here will take a look at any sites unfamiliar to them.Mustang: My first and dearest cyberfriend, whose site Social Sense is one erudite place. If you want to read thought-provoking essays. Mustang's site is a must-read for readers who use their brains.

Warren: My web brother, dear friend, and avatar designer, and the founder of Long Range, straightens out my web-site and HTML issues, with infinite patience. As Beak says, "Warren is everybody's best friend."

Jason: Liberty and Culture is another of those erudite sites I frequent and, thankfully, one of the first I found when I started blogging. If you care about the Islam's ideological threat to Western civilization, Jason's site is a must-read, particularly the articles and major posts listed on his sidebar.

Beakerkin: His site, The Beak Speaks, is home to me. When I was just an upstart back in 2005, Beak took me in and introduced me to his community of long standing via "the electronic bar." It is a a rare day that I don't stop by Beak's site.

The Merry Widow: The other of my web sisters, TMW is on sabbatical right now. But when her site up and running, nobody bests her for variety of posts, including commentary, recipes, and Bible study. I look forward to the end of her sabbatical.

Mr. Ducky: The leftist dissenter who frequents this blog. He qualifies because, even though he is often wrong in my view, he's ever willing to jump into the fray and take the unpopular position.

Angel: Her site, Woman Honor Thyself, offers political satire and analysis, along with integrated graphics for each posting. Angel's stories are both hard-hitting and a pleasure to read.

Big Dog: Retired veteran, staunch patriot, and webmaster of Big Dog's Weblog, he slams liberalism, which he views as a disease eating away at the fabric of our society. If you've never read his essays, you are missing out!

Shah Alexander: Political analyst from Japan and founder of the web site Global American Discourse, Shah has taught me so much about world issues of which I was previously quite ignorant. He is my blog friend on the other side of the world.

Raven: Having become frustrated with the political shennanigans and the toxicity of the political blogosphere, she (formerly of And Rightly So) now runs a life-blogging site called Just Raven. Her recipies and photographs are not to be missed!

Sons of Apes and Pigs: A must-visit web site revealing the truth about Islam, from the Egyptian-Copt perspective. Visit that site for material you've never before known of.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

FEATURED QUESTION: Our Economy

(Each "Featured Question," an idea which I gleaned from A Republic If You Can Keep It, will remain toward the top of the blog until the next question appears. The previous QUESTIONS are HERE. Please scroll down for recent postings)

Most economic indicators show that the American economy is in serious trouble. Some are using the word "recession" to describe our nation's current economic status. And various politicians are scrambling to find an economic package to stimulate our nation's financial situation, which some have called a recession.--------According to this article in January 19, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

President Bush called yesterday for a $145 billion stimulus package centered on tax breaks for consumers and businesses to rejuvenate the lagging U.S. economy, a move that drew unusual bipartisan praise on Capitol Hill but did not boost confidence on Wall Street.

The principles outlined by Bush opened a path to an agreement with congressional Democrats that could come as early as next week and put as much as $800 in each taxpayer's pocket by spring, according to both sides. Bush dispensed with one of the thorniest obstacles to a quick deal by agreeing not to link it to his longstanding quest to make permanent his first-term tax cuts.

"By passing an effective growth package quickly, we can provide a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy," Bush said at the White House.

[...]

On Wall Street, however, the president's plan did little to assuage investors, who are increasingly fearful about the possibility of a recession amid a severe housing crunch, high energy prices and stagnant job growth.More bad news hit the corporate world yesterday, including an announcement by Sprint Nextel of Reston that it is cutting 4,000 jobs after numerous customer defections, and a decision by Fitch Ratings to downgrade the country's second-largest bond insurer....

According to this article in the January 19, 2008 edition of the Washington Times:

Mr. Bush, announcing the financial "shot in the arm" that was originally set to be revealed in his State of the Union speech on Jan. 28, said there is "real concern" about the economy but sought to reassure investors and consumers about long-term financial prospects.

"We're in the midst of a challenging period, and I know Americans are concerned about our economic future," Mr. Bush said. "But our economy has seen challenging times before, and it is resilient."

[...]

Mr. Bush avoided any talk of recession and continued to insist that the U.S. economy has a "solid foundation." But he admitted for the first time that the economy is in jeopardy.

"There is a risk of downturn," Mr. Bush said. "Continued instability in the housing and financial markets could cause additional harm to our overall economy and put our growth and job creation in jeopardy."

[...]

Democrats are proposing a $300 to $600 rebate check for consumers, but the rebate could go as high as $800, according to press reports.

Democrats also want to provide expanded unemployment benefits and additional food-stamp assistance for the poor.

[...]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told Congress on Thursday that he approves of a stimulus package of up to $150 billion including middle-class tax rebates, investment tax breaks, and unemployment and food assistance for the poor.

Additional reading, worth your time, from Reuters (Hat-tip to Nanc, who emailed me the link)

FEATURED QUESTION, in two parts:(1) Do economic-stimulus plans work, or do they result in even more damage to the economy? Feel free to state your views as to the causes of the current problems with America's economy. (2) What can individuals and families do right now to minimize the effect of the economic downturn on themselves and their families?

Friday, January 11, 2008

FEATURED QUESTION: Politics

(Each "Featured Question," an idea which I gleaned from A Republic If You Can Keep It, will remain toward the top of the blog until the next question appears. The previous QUESTIONS are HERE. Please scroll down for recent postings)

Many Americans, among them President Bush, believe that all human beings yearn for freedom and the right to self-government, particularly in the tradition of America and much of the West. On its face, that concept seems logical, particularly to Americans, even though we often take our own freedoms for granted. Nevertheless, in his book Culturism: A Word, A Value, Our Future, author John Kenneth Press makes the point that some cultures do not value or define freedoms in the same way as does the West. You can learn more about Mr. Press's views by listening to THIS; his web site is HERE.--------A recent article in Time Magazine, the edition which named Putin as Time's Person of the Year,states the following under a long article's subtitle of "Who Needs Freedom?":

...Russians are turning inward at the very moment that the Kremlin is mounting a brazen power grab. Governors are no longer elected, just appointed by the President. Opposition leaders are harassed with new antiterrorism laws. Putin's United Russia Party won a grossly uncompetitive election on Dec. 2. By and large, the Russian people offer little protest.

This raises an old question: Do Russians really want to be free? Russians are, after all, the people who actually begged Ivan the Terrible to return to rule them after he threatened to abdicate. As Radischev put it, Russians "come to love their bonds."

These bonds — and their modern equivalent, Putin's paper-thin democracy — are increasingly seen as not only tolerable but also intrinsically, uniquely, gloriously Russian. The Kremlin and its backers use new catchphrases like sovereign democracy to intone that they have their unique form of freedom. The West just wouldn't understand. Russian exceptionalism is an old argument, with an equally long history of detractors. As the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev lamented during the bloody Bolshevik Revolution, "Russia has its own mission, [but] we have mistaken our backwardness for a point of excellence, as a sign of our high calling and our greatness."

Russians are still looking for greatness, on their terms....

FEATURED QUESTION (in two parts, but answering both parts is optional): (1) Do all people yearn to be free? (2) How does the concept of freedom differ from culture to culture?

Protect our freedom and fight radical Islam

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